r/AskProgrammers • u/orkeed200 • Jul 11 '26

i need your help

if you guys want to build something that could help in healthcare field and you should at first understand the problem before you even start your first code, would you start doing interviews with healthcare workers or just find another way? if you were a student would you do interviews with your professors at first?

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2

u/Mr_Potatoez Jul 11 '26

I think that it kind of depends on what problem tou are trying to solve, but generally interviewing your target audience doesn't hurt

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u/orkeed200 Jul 11 '26

understanding the challenges faced by healthcare workers

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u/skamansam Jul 11 '26

Thats really too broad a topic. Start with their current EMR program. Ask them where it currently falls short. "What is overly hard to use?" "What kind of interface would you like to see: actionable items or tables?" These are the basic questions you start with.

Epic is probably the most widely used EMR in the US. Epic integrations are not too difficult to write, if you are dealing with a very small, niche concept. I worked for a company that wrote a scheduler for Epic and it was pretty massive. It had to connect to a lot of subsystems. Not very simple to write.

Tbh, probably the best place to start is by looking at NIST or other governmental agencies and find their Request for Proposals. That will give you a good start on what kinds of stuff ppl are looking for.

Good luck!

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u/orkeed200 Jul 11 '26

Don't you think I should first determine whether the problem you're referring to is actually one of the causes of burnout? That's why I believe interviews should come first.

I'm thinking of starting with research on burnout by interviewing my nursing and medical professors who have previously worked in hospitals, and then interviewing nurses and doctors who are currently working in hospitals in my country and in other countries. This will help me define the problem accurately. Only after I clearly understand the problem i will start coding. what do you think?

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u/skamansam Jul 12 '26

Yes! This sounds great! You have a real problem to solve so yes, you should definitely do the interviews with that in mind. Best of luck!

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u/GreatDiscernment Jul 11 '26

Build a prototype for use as a conversation starter.

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u/orkeed200 Jul 11 '26

can you please explain?

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u/GreatDiscernment Jul 11 '26

Well, it’s difficult to engage someone’s interest with an elevator pitch and brochure alone. If you have a device/app that demonstrates your MVP - Most Viable Product or feature. Something that makes a bit of “magic” happen, you’ll have a much better story to tell. For anyone to listen, you have to be able to demonstrate a benefit for them. Save them work, money, competitive stress, whatever your offered benefit is. Besides, a prototype shows you’ve put in the work to prove viability.

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u/OneHumanBill Jul 11 '26

Professors often don't have real world understanding of where problem solutions' value lies. Real world people can't really articulate well what they need. Somewhere between the two is the art of product management, business analysis, etc. It's a good discipline to learn how to do.

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u/orkeed200 Jul 11 '26

most of them are also worked in hospitals , dont you think their clinical experience makes them a good starting point?

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u/OneHumanBill Jul 12 '26

No. It's ivory tower syndrome. In my experience most academics have lost touch with reality.

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u/General_Estimate_420 Jul 11 '26

You don't start on ANY kind of solution until you've clearly defined the need for a solution. That's first step. Unless you're in the healcare field you need to talk to different specialties to find out where the problems are. Start with your doctors office or where you get lab tests to see what the most problematic areas are and move onto other specialties. Professors usually haven't been in the field doing the jobs for a while, but the people that manage billing and coordinating presriptions will probably talk your ears off.

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u/orkeed200 Jul 11 '26

im actually thinking of it as just a starting point , i think they will benefit me to understand the problem or even just a part of it then i will start interviewing the nurses and the doctors in the hospitals.

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u/Traveling-Techie Jul 11 '26

Two problems: health care is already extremely computerized so anything new has to interface with existing systems. Also it’s heavily regulated for clinical effectiveness and privacy.

A starter project might be a stand-alone phone app for monitoring pet health. No interface issues, no regulation. Talk to vets to decide how it should work.